| From: | shadowtk@*********.com (J. Mach) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Guns & Ammo |
| Date: | Fri May 31 03:25:01 2002 |
that it is overrated. Some newbies think they can pay through the nose
for a few rounds of the stuff and suddenly their pea-shooter will punch
through an armored car. Obviously, not the case, but as with any tool,
there are times and places where it is appropriate.
One of the nice advantages of APDS is that they typically have much higher
muzzle velocities, which means flatter trajectories. So--not that I'd
advocate it--if someone had to hit a target at long range and suspected
the target was armored, a rifle loaded with APDS may give you the
all-important hair's edge advantage on hitting the target, and the
armor-piercing abilities are gravy. Besides, if you have only one shot,
the cost per bullet factors in a lot less.
Anybody who sells you APDS for a pistol, though, is pulling your crank, in
my opinion. The slight edge it can give you punching into your target is
just not worth it. Typically, with a pistol, you are too up-close and
personal for the edge to ammount to anything. Besides, if you want to be
nova-cool and fill your clip full of the stuff and go spraying your
paycheck away, you get to find out APDS's other dirty little secret:
greatly increased chance of fouling and otherwise ripping the crap out of
your barrel.
I'm also going to have to take you to task on your analysis of ball-ammo
vs. faceplates. A riot gear faceplate, sure. They are designed to stop
fists and rocks. But any sort of hardsuit? Any of your smaller calibres
are just not going to make it. I'll give you that you can probably
scratch the hell out of the faceplate, but heck, they introduced light
small-arms proof transparent aluminum shortly after the turn of the
millenium. Yeah, it didn't really catch on well at the time, but that was
a few decades ago. I'm no chemist, but I can only expect the technology
has gotten better. Of course, if you happen to be close enough to someone
in hardshell to be willing to go for a face-shot, you've got bigger
problems than choice of ammunition.
APDS stopping power? Plusses and minuses. With any of your rifle-rounds,
the increased hydrostatic shock due to velocity can be offset by the
decreased mass/size of the bullet, so you aren't getting as much as you
thought. As for pistol rounds, well, see above comment. Typically,
though, you are going to get a through-and-through wound, so it isn't much
for knockdown. Kinda the opposite of flechette, which is good for "soft"
targets but pointless against anything "hard." IF the target is armored,
though, a bullet that cracks the nut is going to do a lot more damage than
one that doesn't.
Your mileage, of course, may vary.]<<<<<
-- Fang <00:19:32/05-31-63 PDT>
